A Tug in her Chest
by pocketgamer2001
Summary: An insight to the feelings of Kyoko Sasagawa during the Varia arc, and how she feels about a certain anxious friend of hers. (implied Kyoko X Tsuna)


Kyoko wasn't one to worry often. She lived a rather carefree life with her brother and their friends. In fact, her life was so carefree that, despite the recent attacks on the students from Kokuyo's thugs, she wasn't worried that anything might happen to her. In fact, on this sunny day at namimori middle, her mind couldn't be further from those thugs the other week.

But that didn't mean that she wasn't concerned right now. Since Collonello came to stay with her at their house, Ryohei was becoming more... distant? Was that the right word? focused? Separated? Streamlined? Whatever the word to describe it was, it became more and more pressing on her min. She became increasingly worried for him as the days passed by, seemingy nearing an event that was closer now than ever. Whatever this event was, she wsa almost certain she didn't want her brother participating... or Tsuna.

Strangely enough, Tsuna so seemed more distant. Well, he always seemed distant with the constant stuttering n the anxiety and the fear of pretty much everything, but lately even more so. He also seemed to be getting stronger, not just physically but... emotionaly? Mentally? more things that she couldn't put a finger to. Seeing as Tsuna seemed to be going through the same thing s Ryohei, she edcie to s him, her best rien who was terribe t eeping his mouth shut.

Of course Ryohei came in at the moment it seemed like she was going to get answer and said something about a sumo tournament. She et the relief of knowing for about 5 minutes. She saw how casually Ryohei seeme to be ting everything n assume that even if it wasn't sumo tournament, he would be ine. But then she remembered Tsuna hesitating before his answer... more than usual. What he was away to say fet much more serious than a simple sumo tournament.

...

Of course coming to the school at just beore midnight to watch her brother break his arm punching some weirdo's knee was, at the very east, odd to Kyoko. At current moment she was distressed. VERY. DISTRESSED.

Of course everyone wsa there. Yamamoto, Gokudera, Tsuna... event that Basil boy from the day the weirdo with the sword attacked them all. Of course, everyone present stuck to the story, Sumo Wresting mixed with boxing. Not unlikey knowing her brother, and the fact that everyone, even Basil, knew about it made it even more likely. Yet she was very surprised that Tsuna was apparantly part of this circuit. It felt as though it was implied from their earlier conversation, but didn't take note of it due the relief of her brother not feeling threatened.

Well that relief is not present anymore, not with her brother snoring on the couch with his arm in a cast after PUNCHING A METAL PLATED KNEE. She was defintwly not relieved.

Well maybe a little bit, the damage didnt seem to be anywhere other than his hands, so she was thankful for that at the least. But she couldn't shake this feeling she got from Tsuna at the end of it.

He had looked... rattled. More rattled than usual, he looked as though he was going to break down. Of course he gained some semblance of confidence once everyone backed up his story, but his intial, anxiety ridden expression stopped Kyoko from feeling totally at ease.

She looked at her brother with a mixture of concern and happiness. She couldnt bear to know what Tsuna and the others had gotten themselves into, yet knowing that jer brother was mostly fine made her feel more confident about all of them. Yet there was still one thing she couldn't quite bw sure of at that moment...

"Why?"

As she extrenalised her inne monologue, the last thing sje expected was an answer from her comatose brother.

"For...Sawada" he snored with a smile on his face.

That got Kyoko's attention. For Tsuna? She would have assured that Tsuna would have shown up for Ryohei, not the vice versa. And the contented look on his face... it almost seemed as though he felt happy helping Tsuna, gettimg mauled like this.

At no point did Kyoko fully buy the Sumo Wrestling thing, but now that she knew it had something to do with Tsuna she highly doubted that arm wrestling was on the priority list for him.

But remebering what he did at Kokuyo... she became worried that something worse lay in wait for her fear ridden friend.

...

None of them had showed up for school all week. Gokudera, Yamamoto, her bother (though that was understandable) or Tsuna. Not a single bad word against Yamamoto, nor their solver haired delinquent. No one even once brought uo her brother.

But Tsuna? All they did was mock him. "Loser Tsuna, can't even get to school properly" was the least offensive thing said about him. At worst...

Surprisingly it was often Hana who spoke out against those people. It wasn't that Kyoko didn't want to, but more people wouldn't let her. They were always always talking over each other and she wasn't the type to interrupt, even if they were insulting the best perso... one of her close friends.

...

She wasnt able to hang out with Hana after school that week, not with Lambo in the hospital. She had commited to going with Haru to help lool after the young boy while he recovered. If she was honest with herself, it was enjoyable, helping Mrs Sawada to take care of him, but there was this air of silent inderstanding between the three girls...

'Tsuna would help us wouldnt he?'

That was the silent sentiment that hung in the room. But the whole idea of Tsuna being there to help was thrown off by the fact that none of them had actually seen Tsuna in the past few days, and although she would never admit it out loud, that fact tugged at Kyoko's chest a bit. Enough to acknowledge. Nothing to act on yet.

Her brother kept leaving every night, presumably to watch another of their 'Sumo Matches' as the story was being told at the moment. She assumed thats where Tsuna and the rest of their friends were each night.

Tsuna? At a fight? Kyoko would never have expected that a few months ago. But something about him changed recently... yet he remained exactly the same. It was an enigma, something she couldn't quite put into words yet.

She looked out the window of the infirmary, Lambo was asleep and Haru had gone to get some food. She stared out towards Namimori Junior High, thinking about where Tsuna was. Ironic, the place he hadn't been was the place she looled to to try and find him, as if he was there right now for his Sumo... important event.

And the only thing she thought about was seeing her friend again.

...

Very little stopped Kyoko from running to the roof. She had heard from Reborn that Tsuna was actually in school that day. Whether or not he would come in the next day remained to be seen, but he was in. That was enough for now.

Each day she went without seeing him that tug in her chest grew stronger. Almost strong enough to act on, if she knew what act she was being prompted toward then she might've acted before now . But Tsuna was in now, he was here to be seen! Therefire, no acting was required on Kyoko's part in this meeting.

As she rushed to the roof she began to feel... nervous? A strange emotion with regards to Tsuna, the person that made her the least anxious out of the entire school, but still reasonable. She hadn't seen him since the day Ryohei broke his arm, which, although being a week ago, felt like years to Kyoko.

She opened the roof door and let the sun overcome her senses. The sky was vast with it's bright blue hue, the orange ball of the sun burning brightly. It was a view of the sky she had loved since she was young, and seeing it here made the tug in her chest tighten once more.

And looking out over Namimori, standing at the fence was a boy, with spiky brown hair and the school's uniform. His positioning seemed to be the point where the sky met the roof, from Kyoko's perspective.

It was an oddly beautiful sight, a strangely tranquil reflection of Tsuna. If Kyoko didn't have afternoon classes to go to she could of stared at it all day. Alas, she had wanted to speak to him for a whole week and she wasn't away to waste this oppurtunity staring at him like... this.

She called his name. He turned and, without stuttering or faltering greeted her. The tug pulled again. This time however the action it seemed to prompt became a bit less hazy. Something abiut the way he spoke there felt so Tsuna and yet so... mature.

The reat if their conversation unfolded in a similar way. They would speak as they normally would and then Tsuna would say something in a way that made Kyoko's heart skip a beat. She couldn't tell you if he made her feel like thks before or not. Perhaps it did, but she was so used to seeing Tsuna before she got used to it? Far-fetched, definitely, but possible.

She gave him the victory charm she made him. Haru had shown her how to make the charm, but decided to make Tsuna's on her own, asking for outaide help when she started on Gokudera's. He initially seemed surprised until Kyoko said it was for the 'SUMO' tournament. It seemed to click with him then.

His next words weren't unusual but still pulled ever more at Kyoko's heart.

"This next match is one I can't afford to lose."

Such confidence, and yet hints of Tsuna's normal, fearful demeanor still slipped through. It was still Tsuna but there was something... different about him. And in those 2 beats Kyoko's heart skipped, she gained a pretty good idea of why.

She gave gime the tags for the others, and then tbw helpers showed up. I-Pin, Futa, Bianchi and Haru to name jusy a few. It suddenly became the loud, raucous group she had become so used to.

And there was Tsuna in the middle of it, who she only wanted to grow more used to.

...

In the end, despite her suspicions of how she felt, she never acted. She was currently at her own house, getting ready to go to the infirmary to help with the celebration for Lambo leaving the hospital. She pondered her emotions for him, but decided to leave it at pondering for now.

After all, when she later gets a full grasp on what she felt for her fearful friend, she would make sure he was the first to know.


End file.
